A/N: Thank you for the reviews, you guys rock.

Fluffy(and everyone else who commented on this): sadly, it's a bit too soon to know the sex of a baby. My research says week 20. Frustrating, I know and I would love to just do that scene and not have to type "it" or "he or she" every time, but that's how it goes. I'm sorry.

Perks of adulthood

A couple of days later, Jess walked into their bedroom, holding two mugs in his hands.

"Get that thing out!" Rory yelped from the bed, burying her face in the pillow.

"What?"

"Coffee! Away from me! Now!" She grumbled again, making him shake his head. Walking out and dropping the mugs on the living room table, he walked back to the room, closing the door behind him and crouched down next to the bed.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just fucking great." She grumbled again, rolling to the other side so she wouldn't have to look at him. Sighing, Jess ran a hand through his hair and stood back up, leaning against the desk.

"What did I do this time?"

"You got me pregnant, that's what you fucking did." She snapped again, making him laugh. "Oh, great, laugh at me. That's what I fucking need."

"Ror, I'm not laughing at you." He walked back to the bed, sitting on the edge and tried to put his hand on her arm, but she quickly pulled away from him. "I'm just confused when you being pregnant and, for the record, me bringing you coffee in bed became bad things. And while I'm on the subject of things that confuse me, why are you allowed to curse but the second I say something, I get chastised like our kid could learn the big bad words by osmosis?"

"Would it kill you to be serious for 5 minutes?"

"Ok, serious face." He smirked, lying down on the bed next to her. "Ror, what's wrong?" He asked, his voice softer when she didn't say anything for a few minutes. Turning around and sighing, she looked at him.

"I feel like shit."

"Morning sickness?"

"I think so. And all the flipping around isn't helping, so now can you please move somewhere I can't see you when I snap at you because I'm crazy?" She smiled softly, making him chuckle.

"Will do. Lift your hand or something to let me know you no longer want to see me, but I still have to stay within earshot."

"Thank you." She smiled again, taking his hand in hers.

"You think food would help?"

"No."

"Not even mashed potatoes?" He smiled, knowing that was her usual comfort food when she was sick.

"Jess, it's not even 8 o'clock."

"So?"

"Mashed potatoes are not breakfast food."

"Fuck it, you're a grown-up. Isn't eating completely inappropriate foods any time you feel like it the greatest perk of adulthood?"

"I always thought it was going to strip clubs and being able to buy alcohol."

"Those are 2 and 3 on the list. Pizza for breakfast? Definitely number one."

"You must realize I grew up in mom's house. Pizza for breakfast isn't all that unusual."

"So why are you saying no to mash then?"

"What if it makes me feel worse?"

"Then we throw it out. Or leave it and eat it cold tonight."

"This baby has no chance of ever having any healthy eating habits."

"We'll teach it to eat all the vegetables and then pass ours to its plate when we're having dinner with the witch."

"You're insane."

Looking down at her stomach, Jess smirked, trying not to laugh. "Kid, that was a perfect example of what is referred to as a pot calling the kettle black."

"Don't make me laugh. Sudden movements don't help either." She tried to sound mad, pointing her finger at him.

"Ok." He nodded, kissing her forehead quickly. "I'll be right back."

A few minutes later, he cracked the door open, keeping the bowl outside the room.

"Can I bring food inside?" Finally seeing the room empty, he walked it, putting the bowl on the desk. Noticing the door to the bathroom was half open, he walked to it, knocking softly. "Ror, you ok?" Pushing the door open completely, he saw her sitting on the floor next to the toilet bowl and walked to her, sitting down behind her.

"This is all your fucking fault." She sighed, leaning back on him and he nodded, kissing her temple.

"Ok."

"Argue with me, damn it."

"Yelling at me makes you feel better?"

"Yes."

"Then it's not me, it's your fault this happened. You just got pregnant to make sure I marry you." He chuckled, smoothing her hair down. "Better?"

"Not if you don't give me a chance to actually yell at you."

"Oh, ok. Sorry." Jess smirked again. "Want to try again?"

"You know everyone will think that we're only getting married because of the baby."

"Yeah, well, everyone used to think that I am completely wrong for you and was going to ruin your life."

"Considering how I feel right now, they might have had a point." She grimaced as a new wave of nausea hit her.

"That's it, I now have leverage for the rest of my life. Be mean to me and I repeat that comment to the kid."

"Jess, I'm sitting on the bathroom floor, having just become very close friends with our toilet and trying to get up because I have to get to work soon. I'm allowed to be less than freaking happy for a few seconds."

"I was kidding." He kissed her temple again. "Skip work today."

"Can't. Work, money, baby not sleeping on the floor."

"One day won't kill anyone."

"No, but I may need free days to plan wedding stuff and for the honeymoon and all that. I think I need to learn to function through this."

"We can skip the honeymoon. That would mean you'd have more days you can take off now."

"No. I want to spend that time with you."

"You're being stubborn."

"No, I'm being rational. We only have six months as husband and wife before we switch to being parents. We should enjoy them."

"It's not like marriage is going to be that big of a change, other than having to get used to wearing a freaking ring all the time."

"You don't have to wear a wedding ring if you don't want to."

"I want to." He smiled, rubbing her arm. "It will stop the hordes of women throwing themselves at me."

"In your dreams maybe." Rory snickered.

"What, you think you're the only one who thinks I'm attractive?"

"Who said I think you're attractive?" She laughed again, snuggling closer to him. "I'm only marrying you because I'm pregnant, after all."

"Think we can have fun with this thing? First dance to Rod Stewart? Or go for the Roy C original?"

"We'll ask dad if he can stand by the altar holding a shotgun for the ceremony."

Kissing her temple again, Jess squeezed her hand. "Feeling better?"

"A bit."

"Enough to get up from the bathroom floor?"

"Enough to try."

Standing up, Jess helped her up as well and they walked to their bedroom. Sitting down on the chair, Rory smiled.

"Success."

"Yes. Now ready to try food?" He pointed to the bowl on the desk and she shrugged, picking up the fork.

"Worst that can happen is we end back there again." She took two bites from the bowl, then put the fork back down, grimacing. "This isn't helping."

"Anything else you can think of that might help?"

"No." She stood up, walking to the dresser slowly and sighing. "I hate work."

Later that night, Jess walked inside their living room, dropping his stuff on the table next to the front door. Finding Rory laying down on the couch, the remote in her hand, he sat down next to her.

"Hey."

"They were being fucking ironic."

"Who was?"

"Whoever named it morning sickness."

"Still sick?" Jess ran his hand through her hair, trying to calm her down.

"No. But I was until after 2 o'clock. Let me tell you, people are stupid. Someone burned something in the microwave at work, which of course led to another throwing up session and then I had to try and explain to Marcia why I wasn't eating. God, they're like Stars Hollow people. Is it so hard for everyone to mind their own business?"

"Tell me you didn't go a whole day without eating."

"Had a sandwich around 3 and then raided the fridge when I got home."

"Anything left?"

"Some frozen pizza, I think."

"Seriously?"

"I was starving." She smiled at him.

"Good." He nodded, running his hand down her back. "Will you kill me if I try to kiss you?"

"Why would I…?"

"You're angry. I'm not taking any chances." He chuckled and she sat up, kissing him. "Not dead yet." Jess remarked, leaning in for another kiss.

"I'm sorry I keep going crazy on you. I swear, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"It's fine." He leaned back against the couch and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"No, it's not. I go freaking mental and you're so great and I want to tell you how much I appreciate it."

"The way I figure, you have to deal with all the really unpleasant bits. Being nice when you're insane is the kind of the least I can do." Jess kissed the top of her head, smiling.

"Am I really that bad?"

"No, you're not." He lied, rubbing her arm.

"I love you." She lifted her head, kissing him. "And you are perfect."

"Now change?" He chuckled, kissing her again.

"No, stay exactly the same. The guy who wrote the musical got it all wrong." Rory kissed him one more time before pointing at the phone. "Dinner?"

"Didn't you say you emptied the fridge when you got home?"

"Hungry again." She shrugged.

"Ok." Jess picked up the phone and looked at her. "What are we getting?"

"Indian and your choice of movie tonight?"

"We had Indian food two nights ago." He made a face and she stuck out her tongue, giggling.

"Well, I'm in the mood for Indian again. Baby wants it." She pointed to her stomach. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it."

"Can you get Indian while I get Chinese? Or make frozen pizza? Or something?"

"Yeah, sure." Rory nodded, kissing him again.

A while later, they were still on the couch, watching a movie, her head resting on his shoulder while his arm was wrapped around her.

"You know, it's unfair that you ate half my dinner." Jess complained, kissing the top of her head.

"That reminds me, I was looking at wedding rings today."

"How are the two in any way connected?" He chuckled, pulling back to look at her.

"They're not, I'm just changing the subject so you don't have a chance to complain. Your dinner looked better than mine, deal with it." She stuck out her tongue, laughing.

"Tyrant."

"Adorable future wife. Stick to my official title, please."

"Insane future wife, how does that sound?"

"Eh, as long as it has future wife in the description, I can deal with it." She smiled, kissing him.

"Ok, so you mentioned rings?"

"Yeah, I bookmarked a few pages. Can you look at them later and tell me if you like any of them?"

"I was thinking something along the lines of leaving work early tomorrow, picking you up and then finding a jewelry store. This was you can try them on and everything."

"Oh, good plan. I can see how they look with my engagement ring." Rory looked down at her hand, smiling again.

"You're still going to wear that one as well?"

"I like it." She shrugged. "Why wouldn't I wear it?"

"Because you'll have the official, "no one else can touch you ever again without me killing them" ring."

"You're being possessive and jealous again."

"You like it." He pointed out, kissing her.

"I do." She nodded, cupping his face in her hand. Smiling when she realized her choice of words, she kissed him again. "A month and a half until we get to say the official ones."

"Yes, and that kid better be nice to you so I don't have to plan this by myself." He smirked, his arm circling her waist.

"Just to be on the safe side, can we plan the ceremony for the afternoon? If this isn't over, I would prefer if I didn't have to race to the bathroom in the middle of saying my vows."

Suddenly looking serious, Jess cleared his throat. "I now pronounce you…wait, where's the bride going? Why is she suddenly green?"

Giggling, Rory kissed him. "I may just realize that it could be the worst decision of my life and run away from you, did you consider that?"

"I'll make sure there are no cars around."

"What about the horses?"

"You'll go near them?"

"Ok, maybe not." She laughed again. "Motorcycle?"

"You can't ride one." He pointed out, smirking.

"Bicycle?"

"Ok, you can run away from me on a bicycle, while wearing a wedding dress. You can join a circus after."

"Why do you have to make fun of me, despite having being tortured by your son for hours today?" She pouted, leaning in and kissing him quickly.

"Because it's fun? And really, you started this by saying that marrying me could potentially be the worst decision of your life."

"What, did I hurt your feelings?" She ran her hand down his chest, smiling.

"Yes." Sighing dramatically, Jess looked at her. "Yet another night of crying myself to sleep while you just don't care."

"Aw, how sad. Maybe you should marry someone who cares instead."

"Ok, that's it. From now on, I'll be damned if I microwave anything for you before 8AM just because you're sick and I'm trying to be nice."

"You see, a proper future husband would have made it from scratch."

"I'm just improper in that case." He smirked, pulling her closer to him and crushing his mouth to hers. "How will you deal?"

"I'll have to work hard." Rory shook her head, smiling. "Only because I love you. Despite all these obvious flaws."

"How lucky for me."

Running her hand through his hair, she kissed him again. "Promise we'll make it and not end up hating each other. I just…don't want to end up bitter and hating you and never be able to look back at this time without feeling miserable. Don't want you to hate me either. Be in the lucky half, the one that stays together."

"You know I can't promise that." Jess suddenly turned more serious, cupping her face in his hand, his fingers playing in her hair. "We can try, that's about as much as I can give you."

"And it's ok to be scared about this ending?"

"Depends on what scares you."

"Not having you in my life anymore. I don't know how I'd be able to deal with that."

"It's ok." He pulled her in for a kiss, smiling softly. "But I'm not going anywhere."

"Even when I am crazy?"

"Even when." He pulled her in for a hug, wrapping his arms around her and kissing the top of her head while she snuggled closer to him. "I'm sticking around for a long, long time."

"Promise?"

"I promise."